Remembering Sgt. David Stelmat ~ NH Hero

Sgt. David “DJ” Stelmat, 27, was KIA on 3-22-2008, in Iraq as a result of a roadside bomb while serving as a medic in the 237 Military Police Company.

Stelmat was a former U.S. Army infantryman who fought on the front lines in Afghanistan. He later traded his weapon for a first-aid kit as a medic with the New Hampshire Army National Guard in Iraq.

His mom, Maryanne, told me that she “would like people to remember his smile and the glint of mischief in his eye.” “My son was a well loved and respected young man.” “I was truly blessed. He was the best son a mom could ever, ever have had.” “He always wanted to help others. Perhaps what most distinguished D.J. as a person was the way he was connected. Not only to his family and his friends, but to the world he lived in.”

He loved the outdoors and for 3 years he choose to live in a humble 10×10 cabin in the woods of Franconia because he wanted to see what it was like to live like Daniel Boone.

David and his friends were responsible for a widely circulated photograph after the 2001 terrorist attacks. They climbed to the top of the Old Man in the Mountain to hang a huge American flag from the granite profile. He went back later to retrieve it, but not before some photos were made into posters memorializing the moment.

He was expected to return from Iraq after 15 month deployment and resume his studies at the New Hampshire Technical Institute in Concord and become a Physician’s Assistant.

May God be with Maryanne and the rest of the family bringing them comfort, especially today.

TO REMEMBER IS TO HONOR…